James B. Gordon

James Byron Gordon (2 November 1822-18 May 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Biography
James Byron Gordon was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1822, a distant cousin of John Brown Gordon. He studied at Emory and Henry College and became a merchant, a Wilkes County commissioner, and a member of the state legislature, and he decided to side with the Confederate States of America when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Gordon led the 1st North Carolina regiment in Virginia and served under J.E.B. Stuart for most of the war, becoming a cavalry commander. After Stuart's death at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on 11 May 1864, Gordon assumed the task of defending Richmond, leading his cavalry in a skirmish with Union general Philip Sheridan's cavalry at Meadow Bridge to the north of the city. Gordon was mortally wounded in the battle, and he died within a week of being wounded.